Mendham Twp. police find gun after traffic stop

11:00 PM,
Feb. 28, 2014

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Police found a loaded .380-caliber handgun with a defaced serial number in the trunk of a car driven by a man who had stopped to check on a friend who had just been stopped by an officer who suspected him of driving while intoxicated, police said.

Township Sgt. Matthew Ambrosi was on patrol on Tempe Wicke Road by the Drakewick housing development at 2:34 a.m. on Feb. 22 when he stopped a Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Michael Gatens, 26, of Piscataway for a motor vehicle violation.

Ambrosi immediately smelled alcohol when he approached Gatens and began to conduct field sobriety tests, said ...